Presentation of Letter of Credence to the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban-Treaty Organization (CTBTO)
Permanent Representative of Iceland in Vienna, Mr. Guðni Bragason presented Dr. Lassina Zerbo, Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban-Treaty Organization (CTBTO) his Letter of Credence on 21 June 2018. The Preparatory Commission was established in 1996 with its headquarters in Vienna. Iceland was among the founder members. It is a consultative forum between member states operating on an interim basis until the CTBT agreement will enter into force.
In a bilateral meeting Mr. Bragason and Dr. Zerbo discussed various nuclear matters current in the world of today. In particular the importance that states like Iceland should encourage other states to become members of the agreement and that it should enter into force as soon as possible.
The Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban-Treaty (CTBT) provides a complete ban on any test explosions related to the development of nuclear weapons. Therefore CTBT is among one of the key international treaties in order to counteract nuclear proliferation and to promote disarmament. CTBTO operates a surveillance system on experiments with nuclear weapons with about four hundred monitoring stations across the globe. Two of those monitoring stations are situated in Iceland, earthquake measurements in cooperation with the Icelandic Meteorological Office in Borgarnes and radiation measurements in cooperation with the Icelandic Radiation Safety Authority in Reykjavik.